It's the "best of" time of year where everybody tells you what they thought the best movies, music, etc. was for 2011. Once I gave it a little thought I discovered 2011 was a really good year for concerts, movies, music, TV and comic books. So here's my very selfish and subjective take on what I liked (and a few things I didn't like) about 2011. Get ready for a long episode, 1 hour and 24 minutes, as I actually spend some time talking on my subjects.

My podcast affiliate for this episode is Champs Sports where you can get great sporting goods for 10% off when you use my coupon code AFMPV1CH and save 15% when you spend $75 or more with coupon code AFMPV2CH. See all my podcast affiliates to save money at my mevio coupon site.

For this week’s video episode I’m steering away from indie pop music and focusing on indie pop culture. A few episodes ago, I had an interview with local filmmaker J.G. Barnes on his short film “Patrick.” This episode is a follow up, with J.G. talking about his upcoming short movie “Thieves” which is shaping up to be quite a spectacle. Visually arresting with a sci-fi storyline, “Thieves” will be out early January 2012. To support the movie there are trailers and other videos available at J.G.’s Zenisphere Films YouTube page.

This week’s video goes back to October when I saw Sims and Cecil Otter at the Pike Room in Pontiac. This video is with Sims, the Cecil Otter video is still to come. The first person you’ll see in the video is my brother, Kevin, who is a huge fan of both. I decided to let him do the interview and he was so into it he wrote detailed questions in a notebook. Sims latest release is the excellent “Bad Time Zoo,” a very entertaining hip hop record with Sims calculatedly rapping over incredible beats provided by Lazerbeak. As part of the Doomtree collective, Sims can also be heard on “No Kings,” the new album from Doomtree released a couple weeks ago. My apologies go out to Sims and Kevin for taking so long to get this video out.

My podcast affiliate this week is 4inkjets.com where you can save 10% when you use the promo code MOST. 4inkjets.com carries all the printer and inkjet supplies you need at far below retail cost.

On this audio edition I talk about my obsession with getting a tablet and the one I ended up with. I also have an interview with "neo-folk-goth" band Tasseomancy, a new group from Canada that includes twin sisters that share vocals. I caught their live show with Austra, another Canadian band that the sisters from Tasseomancy also provide back up vocals for. I also include a couple of reviews for newly released albums by Golden Glow and I Love Lightning Bugs. You can read my blog review of "Kensington" by I Love Lightning Bugs here.

My podcast affiliate for this episode is Match.com where you can save 25% off a membership when you use the code MADPOD at mevio.match.com. Match.com is the #1 online dating website where single people can meet their perfect mate.

It's my 300th episode of Most People Are Djs! I'm celebrating it with a video review of Peter Murphy, She Wants Revenge and Hussle Club in a concert I attended Black Friday, Here's my review of the show I did for motorcityblog.

This year I’ve been reliving my youth and seeing the bands I grew up listening to like OMD, Men Without Hats and the star of this show, Peter Murphy. While the show was billed with the emphasis on She Wants Revenge as they probably do sell more records than Peter Murphy, the focus at the show was on Peter Murphy. Give credit to SWR as they told the crowd to save themselves for Peter, during their set full of new, old and even some B-sides. If you came to the show a little late you probably missed Hussle Club, who played an early 30 minute set of a hard post punk that also featured some updated dance rhythms. As mentioned above, SWR played some of their early hits and their closing with “Out of Control” and “Tear You Apart” received loud appreciation from the crowd. At age 54, Peter Murphy, shows your years as a musician and singer with one of the richest, as well as deepest vocals, can still put on a show that includes all the raw energy of his early years and all the beauty of his more delicate later releases. When he’s rowdy onstage, dancing and preening, he still reminds me of an Iggy Pop impersonator. But, it’s his quieter, reflective songs that elevate his show above comparisons. He showed an angry streak during the show as he railed his sound man for checking his cell phone. In fact, I would say Peter is perfectionist at his art and has those same expectations for those around him, even choosing to restart “A Strange Kind of Love” when he was more than more than midway through it. His set also featured four Bauhaus songs, my favorite being “In the Flat Fields” which had Peter berating his drummer to “play faster, play faster!” He ended the show slowing way down with a somber encore of a three-song suite that included "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem."

My paid affiliate for this episode is 4inkjets.com where you can save 10% on all your printer needs when you use the coupon code MOST. See all my saving offers at my Mevio Coupon Page.

My sponsor for this episode is Champs Sports where you can get great sporting goods for 10% off when you use my coupon code AFMPV1CH and save 15% when you spend $75 or more with coupon code AFMPV2CH. See all my podcast affiliates to save money at my mevio coupon site.

This video interview goes back to September on a beautiful and crisp night at Ferndale's DIY Festival. A 3-day Festival of DIY music and arts. The emphasis is on the DIY as you won't find many commercial crafts. What you will find is booths with original, handcrafted arts, and some of the best local bands. On the opening night I went out and saw a couple bands I've been meaning to see since the beginning of the year. Phantasmagoria and Step Dad. The members of Phantasmagoria were nice enough to spend a few minutes with me. While I had heard and read great things about Phantasmagoria's unique combination of pop, electronic beats and tribal rhythms. Lianna's strong vocals mix in with Chris' music that has a dark and rich fullness to it. Comparisons are hard to come by, trip hop may come to mind, but, the organic blend of sounds that wash over the striking vocals, cancel that out and something more psychedelic is the result.

If you're in the Detroit area you can catch Phantasmagoria playing various venues, on Dec. 9 they'll be at the Magic Stick with Passalaqcua and Chrome Sparks. You can also pick up their music at Five Three Dial Tone and their bandcamp site.

My podcast affiliate for this episode is 4inkjets.com where you can save 10% when you use my coupon code MOST.

I know I said this week's MPAD would be a video of Phantasmagoria, but I'm switching it up to a video review of a show I took in Friday and just couldn't wait to talk about.

On Friday night I checked out the Global Dub Festival at Royal Oak Music Theatre and today I think my ears are finally recovering. As far as I'm concerned it was worth it, as the sights and sounds of the show were a maddeningly delight with a mixture of throbbing bass, dayglo fashion and seizure inducing strobes. Add to that the fact that I was probably twice the age of most the other attendees and most people would be questioning my sanity. My answer is I'm open minded to experiencing just about anything that looks and sounds like fun which GDF definitely was. Ishe stated the show early around 8:30pm but there were already spurts of dancing on the floor as the crowd made their way in. Ishe played his DJ set off CDs which seemed a bit old fashioned to me, but his set was a steady blast of heavy dub step. Ana Sia followed, boosting the volume and the intensity dosing her set with hip hop and more frequent bass throbs. Mimosa was a crowd favorite as his set contained a heavy urban influence and I think he broke some frequency records for Royal Oak Music Theatre as the place was literally shaking during his set. Zeds Dead came up next and quickly became my favorite act of the night with their original set of electronic music that mixed in some classic rock and pop with their faster and energetic set. Benga capped off the night with an emcee in tow that kept the audience in heavy dance and participation with shouts and cheers. The video below is my review of the show from video and pictures I took throughout the night.

I can always rely on the Halloween season to get me back into the darker and scarier sides of pop culture. This week in my annual celebration of all things horror I'm reviewing a couple new TV shows and movies. American Horror Story is the new show from Ryan Murphy that is packed with crazy scary moments and other moments that just leave you scratching your head as to what just happened. Death Valley on MTV is a more comedic take on horror, but still has plenty of scares. I also give my opinion on Kevin Smith's horror thriller Red State. While I didn't get into it I have to say I don't see how Kevin Smith was tying this into the crazy antics of Fred Phelps, besides them both being religious nuts. I also review the low bugdet but very good indie flick, Megan is Missing. The music comes from a couple bands I saw last week, Lights and Rubik and a couple bands of good new ethereal electronic bands, Phantogram and Phantasmagoria.

You can save 10% at Champs Sports with my coupon code AFMPV1CH and if you're planning on spending more than $75 you can save 15% with my coupon code AFMPV2CH and get free shipping. Even podcasters like me need to stay in shape, or at least maintain some small degree of feeling physically fit. Sometimes all it takes to get me moving is some new sports apparel. Worn shoes and sweats with holes in them just don't make me feel very motivated. The problem is, more times than not, when I drive out to the local sports apparel store and pick out the shoes I want, wouldn't you know it, they don't have my shoe size in stock. That's why I go online and shop at Champs Sports. They have a wide selection of sporting goods to get anything I need for exercise or just look like I do. They also carry all the latest brands and have great prices. Get those fingers typing over to Champs Sports, save some money, and look great.